All Alone in a Dusty Room
by GoldenWhiteRose
Summary: 'A man cannot live by bread and ale alone.' Tom explores his feelings towards Alice and struggles to find the balance between friendship, love and sexual attraction.
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is :) A slow start, set just after Alice started living with the Spook and Tom; I'm sure all countries will have their own names for that book :P Let me know if anything offends you, I'm more than happy to oblige, same with any requests And thank you to Winnie for all her great help XD Those of you who haven't read her stories yet, check them out **

My master had given me and Alice leave to spend a day away from our work and just please ourselves. I was sure he'd meant for us to spend the day separately but it had been Alice's idea, seeing as it was such nice weather, for us to go up one of the fells with a picnic she made herself

By late morning my body was starting to sweat with the exertion of climbing the fell, carrying the picnic basket Alice had prepared. It was an aromatic July afternoon and it was days like this that the heat really got inside your body and roasted you from the inside out.

Alice had let go of my hand a moment ago and as I watched her climbing through the yellow grass ahead of me I appreciated the view of her hips swinging and the way her dress skimmed suggestively over her bottom. As I tried to suppress the slowly increasing warmth in my crotch Alice turned to grin at me as though she knew. I grimaced guiltily and picked up my pace to draw level with her.

"Come on, Tom, don't tell me you're getting tired already." She teased, taking hold of my hand again. I felt another prickle in my armpits at the guilt of what I was feeling down below on what should have been a careless and peaceful day. Alice and I drew closer together and she rested her head on my shoulder. Her silky hair tickled my cheek and, without thinking, I wrapped my arm around her, purposefully clenching the muscles so they would feel harder. Alice lifted her head and flashed me a mischevious smile,

"Bet you I can reach the top of the hill first" she teased. I took my arm from around her shoulders and smacked her bottom gently.

"Go on, then, I'll race you." I replied, picking my pace up to a run. Alice, who'd had a small head-start, made a face of false shock at my smack and giggled, sprinting ahead, her summer scent breezing after her.

We reached the top of the fell to be greeted by a blissful warmth and birdsong. Alice was sat cross-legged next to a large jagged rock and smiling at me, as pretty and innocent as a high-born girl half her age. I strolled over to her and dropped the basket next to her before sitting down facing her.

Alice giggled and leaned forward slightly so that the tips of her hair touched my chest and I could gaze into her eyes. I gave a short nervous chuckle at the strange intimacy of the situation and Alice giggled gently. She sat back on her heels and tossed her hair gently, my eyes inevitably drawn to the subtle bounce of her breasts as she did so.

"Tom," Alice scolded, lifting my chin up, "eyes on the face!"

"A man cannot live by bread and ale alone" I smirked, quoting the common excuse of the village men.

Alice gave me a gentle push in the chest "You're not a man yet, Tom, you're still a scrawny boy." She warned me. I put my hands on her waist and ran them over her hips.

"So what does that make you?" I whispered cheekily.

Alice placed the picnic basket between us.

"Hungry" she smirked.

We laughed as we ate and then lay down in the grass to watch the sun go down, side by side and enjoying each other's warmth as we held hands. Truly Alice was the best friend I had ever had; my master was wrong to assume that we were anything more. We were sometimes a little playful, like we had been today, but I'm sure I'm like a brother to Alice. Girls like that don't go for scrawny boys.

**So what do you think? Just dipping my toe in the water :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all your great reviews, your support means a lot! Any requests or suggestions? And, as always, lots of love to Winnifred Artemis and I demand that you check out her stories :P Love also to Emmy and Kate- keep the magic going **

Laying back under the stars Alice and I had lost track of time and fallen asleep on the picnic blankets, holding hands side by side. When we awoke it was to a howling gale of rain and wind; the icy rain lashing mercilessly against our thin clothes. Alice rolled into me and we wrapped the picnic blankets around ourselves to try and keep warm. This proven futile, however, and soon we were both so cold our bodies ached.

Alice was worse. There was no doubt about it; she was shivering uncontrollably and her lips were beginning to acquire a blue tinge.

Of course, I'd already given her my both picnic blankets and wrapped her up in them as tightly as I could but for some reason Alice just couldn't keep warm. I'd tried to light a fire but the harsh winds kept blowing it out. I'd even tried chafing her skin to try and increase circulation but all that had done was further numb the parts that I hadn't rubbed.

I'd tried just about everything I could to keep Alice warm but she was still whimpering with cold. She couldn't even feel her own body. That's why I did it. I don't care what anyone else says or thinks; I did it for Alice, not for me. Not for my own twisted pleasure, but to help Alice survive the night… I gave her the heat of my own body.

I slowly and unwillingly removed my shirt and Alice, thinking I was going to offer it her, shook her head profusely.

"Y-y-y-you-u-u k-k-eep it-t T-t-tom. It-t's s-s-so c-cold." She protested, barely able to speak because her face was that numb and her teeth were chattering that hard. I didn't want her to waste her energy arguing with me and gently rested my hand on her arm.

"Sshh, just trust me." I whispered, emphasising the word 'trust'.

I then removed my boots and socks and finally the picnic blankets covering Alice. She gave a small sob of pain as more cold shot through her.

I gently pulled my shirt onto her body and then eased my breeches to halfway up her thigh, not wanting to venture further and possibly scare her. I tugged her shoes off and put my warm socks onto her feet instead and finally spread her one of the blankets out underneath her for insulation against the cold ground. Then came the tricky bit.

Moving very slowly so as not to frighten her, I lay down on top of her and then pulled the second blanket over the top of us like a blanket. As soon as I had completed that action I felt extremely foolish and awkward, neither of us knowing what to do next.

"T-tha-anks, To-om." Alice chattered. She was still cold but warmer than before.

At first her body was like ice beneath me and I began to shiver too, but then we gradually warmed up. I still didn't know what to do, however, or even where to put my arms so I just left them hanging by my sides. It was Alice who decided for me. She timidly reached up and put her arms around my neck, waiting for my reaction. When I did not rebuke her she tightened her grip around me and lifted herself up momentarily. I took the hint and put my arms around her waist. She lowered herself back onto my arms with a small contented smile. We lay there in comfortable silence.

"Well, this is cosy." Said Alice after a long while. I'd lost track of time completely but it must have been quite some time since we last spoke if Alice could talk normally again. "Here, you must be freezing." She said, removing her arms from around my neck and tugging my breeches down to offer them back to me.

No sooner had she spoken than the wind whipped up again and the sleet started. This was even worse than before.

I pulled the blanket up over our heads and took my breeches off her to lay at our feet so our toes didn't freeze. She insisted on giving me my shirt back so I accepted, wondering if she might be uncomfortable and if I should put my breeches back on.

I needn't have concerned myself. As soon as I'd pulled my shirt on, before I'd even had chance to button it, Alice's arms were back round my neck. I held her in my arms again and was relieved when I felt her skin was almost warm again.

"Let's have a little nap." I suggested to her. She nodded and burrowed down into my chest, her head resting on my shoulder. I chuckled and tried to tuck the edges of my shirt around her. I suddenly saw a mischievous glint in her eye as she grinned up at me.

"You know, Tom… my feet are awfully cold." She began in that teasing tone she sometimes uses when we are alone together.

I took the hint and started to take my shirt off but she took my wrist and interrupted me., tapping me on the nose.

"No, Tom you've given up enough of your clothing tonight." She continued in that same teasing tone that I knew better than to argue with.

I didn't know where to look as she untied the string at her waist and then gently slid her dress off, down her legs, burying it at our feet. She looked up at me to check for a reaction, although I tried desperately to disguise it, as she lay next to me, this time wearing just her binding and loincloth. I could feel our cheeks burning as they pressed together. We certainly wouldn't have been doing this if Mr Gregory were with us.

That thought sparked some sort of rebellion in me and I pulled Alice even closer and gently stroked her hair. She giggled and blushed but after a while her eyelids began to droop and she fell asleep in my arms.

I can't tell you how pleasant it was to hold her in my arms that night and feel her breath against my chin. To watch the way her red lips pouted slightly as she dreamed and to feel the way her chest rubbed against mine as she breathed. She always fell asleep before me but she always woke up before me too. I wondered what she would see when she woke up and whether she was enjoying my company as much as I was enjoying hers.

But, like I said, I didn't do what I did that night for any of those reasons. Not for my own pleasure or to try and bring Alice closer to me. Not so that I would have something to brag about or so I would be able to blackmail her later. Just because she was cold. And because I love her.

And because I was definitely NOT expecting what happened next…

**Not to disappoint but I don't think it is what you think it is… but I guess you'll just have to wait to find out :O Yes, I am a munckin. **


	3. Chapter 3

**And I'm back :P Lots of love to Emmy, Kate and of course Winny- the wonderful Winnifred Artemis :D **

The morning bloomed bright and warm, the sun golden and the birds singing. Alice and I had huddled closer in the night, my arms and Alice's legs had wrapped around each other. I awoke to Alice smirking at me mischeviously,her hair all tousled from sleeping rough.

"Sleep well?" She asked me teasingly.

"Yeah, I slept well thanks, but how about you? Did you get cold again?" Alice grinned

"I slept alright... but I couldn't really get comfy. Like something hard kept poking me." She teased, grinning broadly and I felt my cheeks burn with shame. She laughed and shook her hair before leaning forward until our noses touched.

"It was a pretty wild night" I agreed, tousling her hair a little more, my fingers curling themselves into the tips of her hair, my knuckles resting on the swell of her breasts. Her red lips parted slightly and our faces tilted towards each other. I felt my lips begin to tingle as we continued to tilt our faces towards each other, maintaining tender eye contact.

"Cosy, are we?" My masters gruff voice growled somewhere behind me, ruining our moment. We jerked apart guiltily, my hands instantly dropped from Alice's breasts and our bodies completely seperated. We sat up straight, Alice holding the blanket against her chest. "When neither you nor the girl came back last night, lad, I was concerned and this morning I set out to find you. I'm glad I did because it looks like there really is nothing between your ears."

Angrily he came forward and pulled the blankets from our bodies, revealing our immodesty. I was naked, my early morning hunger painfully evident and I felt tears of shame prick behind my eyes but I was not going to cry in front of Alice. Alice was lying in just her binding and loincloth, considerably less shamed, only her pale well-formed legs and stomach vulnerable to the gaze. "It looks like you didn't listen to me at all, lad! You've allowed this Deane whore to seduce you lure you into her bed! And once she's got you to lie with her once, it'll be child's play for her to bring you back." He snapped, throwing the blankets back over us as Alice came to her feet in anger.

"Alice is no whore!" I cried indignantly. "We shared the blankets because of the storm!"

"That's rubbish!" Alice cried. "I ain't a whore and I wouldn't control Tom, no matter what. Ain't nothing like the other witches, and I ain't easy neither!" Snatching up her dress and shoes into a little bundle in her arms Alice ran off into the trees and I was unable to follow her.

My master tossed me my trousers disdainfully. "Cover yourself up, lad. We've got work to do today." Obediently I pulled my breeches up but not to follow my master back to the house. I ran after Alice through the trees and found her, also dressed, curled up in a ball. She had her head buried on her arms and was weeping into her knees. She raised her head as I approached and I ran to crouch beside her.

"You don't think I'm easy do you, Tom?" She choked out through her tears. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"No, Alice, of course I don't." I told her soothingly. "You're the best-looking girl in the village and you haven't been with a single one."

Alice smiled at me weakly, drying her eyes on her wrists. "Not even Tommy Filch, the blonde one who's built like a mountain." She smirked. I gently took her chin in my hand.

"Not even Tommy Filch." I whispered. "Not even Tommy Ward." My lips stopped less than the width of my little finger from her lips.

"Not even Tommy Ward" she repeated. I closed that distance between her lips and kissed her fully. My tongue gently traced my lips. Then I stood up and raced off, laughing in childish exhuberence. I snatched up my shirt, boots and socks, not even caring as I ran down the hill, topless and bare-foot, still laughing. I had kissed Alice. And I think she liked it.

**Spread the luuurve in a review if you have suggestions :P**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to all my loyal readers! The next update is following soon :)**

To make up for the blissful day Alice and I had enjoyed yesterday my master seemed determined to work us as hard as possible today, setting both me and Alice an enormous amount of copying and translating as well as ordering me to dig three pits in the afternoon.

In the morning Alice and I sat at the kitchen table, her copying from one book into another and me memorizing Latin verbs.

All through the morning, sat facing each other under my master's furious gaze, Alice and I had occassionally dared to give each other flirtatious looks, basking in our secret kiss.

In the afternoon Mr Gregory had been obliged to retire to his library in order to continue his study of the lives of previous spooks. Leaving Alice at the kitchen table and me in the southern garden, my master set me to work with a measuring rod and shovel.

After around three quarters of an hour I had completed one pit and started on the second. I'd also worked up a thick sweat in the hope of finishing early and getting to spend some time with Alice. Alone it seemed harmless to take my shirt off (having already removed my jerkin.) The breeches were old ones from when I first arrived with Mr Gregory but they still fitted alright although they now hung low, revealing a line of pubic hair.

I continued to dig, working hard, before I sensed that I was being watched. I turned around to see Alice, sat on a fallen tree trunk and smiling at me cheekily. I was suprised but started to dig harder, wanting to show off in front of my audience. Alice was watching me intently and I smirked with pride.

Working furiously I noticed little else but I kept hearing a strange rustling noise and when I next glanced at Alice over my shoulder she looked a little on edge but what really confused me was the way she was rubbing her legs together. Before I could muse on this subject any further, however, I heard my master's voice calling. He sounded gruff uso I left the garden immediately and went straight to the library, leaving Alice sat alone outside.

**Stay tuned! Next time the heat is really turned up :P**


	5. Chapter 5

**Many thanks to all my faithful followers! Sorry for the wait- exam season :P Anyways, a nice longey for you- let me know if it goes too far, I'm happy to change anything that offends **

It was two weeks before my master even allowed Alice and I to spend any time alone together but after a prolonged period of hard work and begging I had succeeded in persuading him to grant permission for me and Alice to go out for a drink at the local tavern- the Friendly Lantern- on the provision that we would be back at a decent time the next morning and, under no circumstances, do anything remotely sexual. So saying Mr Gregory gave me a single golden guinea and sent me away from my work early so as to give me time to get ready.

I was more than a little nervous about my evening out with Alice, even though I knew we were just going as friends and nothing more, and wanted to look my best. In the end I decided not to overdo things and just put on a clean shirt and pair of breeches. I combed my hair and brushed my teeth before climbing the stairs two at a time up to Alice's room. When Alice opened the door the first thing I noticed was her shy smile and, secondly, that she had changed into a new dress my master must have bought for her- I'd never seen it before. She closed the door softly behind her and I took her hand and led her down the stairs, out of the house and into the village.

The Friendly Lantern was a large tavern and usually quite busy but tonight was exceptional, it was like everyone in the village had turned up. The poorest and lowest villagers were sat outside, tankards clutched in their hands trying to forget about their fifteen hungry children back at home while the rest of the villages huddled inside and sipped. I bought Alice and myself a cider each and we took a table near to the fire, unnoticed by fellow drunken patrons.

We sipped our drinks slowly, laughing and joking, while Alice asked me questions about my life before becoming an apprentice. I told her about my life on the farm, all the wise sayings my dad had taught me and the antics my brothers had got up to but I noticed that Alice didn't volunteer any information herself about her life before coming to live with us. Thinking that perhaps I was being rude for not asking more questions about her early life I stopped mid-story and changed the topic to her.

"But what about you, Alice? I've told you all about me but I still don't know anything about you before we met."

"What do you want to know?" Alice seemed a little on her guard and I noticed her physically withdraw from me. "I never grew up on a farm or had brothers. I've been on my own this whole time- there's nothing to tell."

"Well, what were your parents like? Who did you play with?" I asked, taking her hand to convey my genuine interest. Alice turned her face away and I saw genuine sorrow written there.

"Ain't nothing to tell, Tom. Come on, don't spoil such a lovely night, tell me more about _your_ family."

I decided not to try and press Alice any further- her early life clearly held a lot of pain for her and I didn't want to make her tell me something she wasn't ready for.

A short time later, feeling the call of nature, I excused myself to the bathroom but was obliged by the sound of vomiting to instead take myself and my bladder outside. As I concentrated on spraying only the gutter and not myself- after rather a lot of cider- I heard noises from the ginnel down the side of the pub. The sort of noises lovers usually make. As I tried to ignore the noises and focus on my aim they seemed to grow louder and louder and I found myself reminded of Alice and the more lurid dreams I sometimes have of the two of us together- especially since that night on the fell.

I had finished relieving myself and really should have gone back inside but instead I found myself not wanting to invade the couple's private time- if it could be called private time down a ginnel- but listening all the while, straining my ears to work out exactly what was going on. I thought I heard pleasing evidence of the success of one of my own ideas just before the noises changed to low declarations of love and the sounds of kissing.

I dashed back inside the tavern to find Alice still sitting by the fire, looking a little bored- I'd not realised how long I'd been gone. I went over to her and smiled before taking her hand and leading her back to the Spook's house. Our evening was almost over but I couldn't concentrate on how nice it had been or even the tenderness and warmth of holding Alice's hand. All I could think about was what I had heard down that ginnel and whether or not I would ever get the chance to do some of those things with Alice- or even at all in the Spooks' life of celibacy when Mr Gregory berated me even for relieving my own tensions too often. That caused my thoughts to wander to Alice and whether or not she sometimes felt the same way about me- did Alice ever relieve her tensions herself? Did she even have any to relieve?

Feeling incredibly dirty and ashamed for even getting onto that train of thought I forced those indecent desires to the back of my mind and instead focused on what Alice was saying- about how beautiful the sky was tonight and teaching me the names of some stars I hadn't noticed before. She told me a Pendle story, too, about how the earth was a woman known as "the mother" and the sky was a girl known as "the maiden" and how they had come to acquire those names.

All too soon we arrived back at the Spook's house and, not wanting to disturb Mr Gregory, we crept up the stairs and I escorted Alice back to her room.

"Goodnight, Tom." She whispered and leaned forward for her usual goodnight kiss. I kissed her softly, tenderly and put one hand behind her head to gently stroke her hair before pulling back- it was late and I didn't want her to think I had any indecent intentions.

"Goodnight, Alice." So saying I went back to my own room and undressed for bed before taking a little time for myself. I knelt up on the bed and thought of Alice in the purest way I could. I imagined it was our wedding night and we had just made love for the first time and now she wanted to try something new; taking my member into her mouth and playing with it until I found release. I imagined her telling me seductively about how much she wanted to do this and I imagined caressing her bare breasts as she did so, gently sucking on the skin of her neck. As I began to really enjoy myself I stopped and gasped. A shard of ice was being pressed into my back warning me of the approach of something from the dark.

"She is a pretty little thing isn't she?" I froze in horror as I recognised the sneering voice of Bony Lizzie in my ear. I'd thought that after my master had bound her in a pit she would be no danger to anyone but clearly I was wrong. "A clever girl, is Alice, and a beauty. She's had more than you on his knees cuddling his cock."

I felt my muscles seize up and tears of shame pricked behind my eyes. I snatched up my breeches and was about to put them back on before I heard the most tantalising sound of my life: the lust-filled whimper of a woman. A fresh flush of blood to my member made my giddy; Alice's bedroom was directly above mine and I felt certain it was her making the noise.

"She wants you too, you know" Lizzie purred in my ear "she's got her pillow underneath her and she's riding it. Dripping wet and rubbing her pretty twat all over it . Wouldn't you like to help her?"

My entire body burned to acquiesce but I forced myself to hold back.

"What? Wouldn't you like to really give her something to moan about? To reach that spot _deep_ inside her. She'd let you, you know- you wouldn't be her first- but of course you're just a boy and don't have the balls to do you?

I abruptly realised that I had failed to withstand and was beginning to pleasure myself again. Lizzie gave a mocking laugh and I realised that she was, in some way, trying to bend me to her will and attempting to use Alice to do so. The thought angered me- she was using Alice as some sort of bargaining chip, a sex slave almost. That rage caused all my lust to disappear and replace itself with fury.

"Alice is not my pleasure toy or your bargaining chip!" I growled internally to the sneering voice inside my head. "She's my friend and I care about her and neither you nor anyone else will cause me to treat her as anything less!" What I did not declare, because a tiny part of me worried that maybe I was wrong, was that I was also sure that Lizzie was lying- that Alice had never been even remotely intimate with another boy.

I dragged on my breeches and flew down the stairs and out of the back door, trying to get as far away from the tempting, infuriating voice as I could. I staggered to the tree at the bottom of the garden that my master made me practise skewering with my staff. My rage manifested in the only way I knew how as I kicked and hit the tree until the bark peeled off, my anger expressing itself in the form of wordless shouts.

My master always slept heavily but Alice was a light sleeper and shortly after she came running barefoot out of the house, dressed in her usual black dress with her hair all tousled, her eyes wide and wild. She looked very pale and had obviously been crying. Without a word she ran to me and put her arms around my neck, sobbing into my chest. I'd comforted Alice as best I could but all she would say was that she'd had a nightmare. She didn't say what about.

**Thank you and lots of love to all my readers- especially my faithful friend WinnifredArtemis :D Thanks! BTW what do we think of a Pendle clan fic? Which coven? **


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